Jinguashi Jinquan Temple

Originally established as Jinguashi Monastery (金瓜石寺), a simple wooden structure, in 1905 to handle the frequent deaths in the nearby mines. Jōdo Shinshū monks would handle cremations on site and store ashes in urns in a cellar until they could be transported onward. During the peak of the mining industry in the early 1930s thousands of foreign laborers were brought in from, among other places, Wenzhou in China. In the post-war era the temple was rebuilt with reinforced concrete and renamed. Japanese remains were repatriated in 1969, leaving the remains of more than 200 Chinese laborers unclaimed, as it was impossible at that time to communicate across the Taiwan Strait. Eventually the temple was abandoned, but the Taipei Wenzhou Association eventually stepped in to erect a memorial monument to their compatriots whose families were unable to be contacted.